Warren Buffett’s Slap at Buyback Illiterates Rings True

Berkshire Hathaway CEO is talking his own book, but his criticism is fair

By Spencer Jakab of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"Warren Buffett rarely uses his annual letter to shareholders to lobby for policies that would enrich Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B 0.16%increase; green up pointing triangle or himself personally. He also generally strikes a grandfatherly tone, avoiding name-calling, though his acerbic 99-year-old business partner, Charlie Munger, is less restrained. Berkshire’s 2022 letter, released Saturday, was an exception. The topic was stock buybacks, newly subject to a 1% excise tax that President Biden recently proposed quadrupling in his State of the Union address.

“When you are told that all repurchases are harmful to shareholders or to the country, or particularly beneficial to CEOs, you are listening to either an economic illiterate or a silver-tongued demagogue (characters that are not mutually exclusive),” wrote Mr. Buffett."